Be Excellent To Each Other

The really worrying thing for me is just how true that thing is about you "growing" 2inches at night because of lying down - I have to hunch on my way to work and still my head rubs on the roof, but have loads of room on the way home.

Explains why the missus prefers sex in the mornings, anyway.

You're a giant midget?

?!?!?

Z3>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Mighty Boosh>>>>>>>>>Fiat Panda>>>>>>Z4

Haynes manuals are good for bikers.

Haynes Manuals are good for anyone with a car more than ten years old.
I've added about ten things onto my 'stuff to buy' list since this morning - I'm going to stop now.

Although I've already bought some dials

I'm 6'3" mostly in the torso area, was a little cramp until I performed the 'foamectomy'
http://www.miata.net/garage/headroom.html
Plenty of room now and the seats give better lateral support as a bonus.

I'm leg-tall, so the car I'm getting has got a slightly longer-than-normal cockpit, and the pedals have been moved forward a bit. Although this is mainly because the other guy that is driving it is 6'7".

Will he be using his feet to brake with ala the Flintstones?

Considering I'm putting the floor pans in myself, the answer is probably yes

Saw a bloke last night driving his Chimera with the top down, revelling in the deep engine note.

I was amused to notice a huge truck next to me at the lights today revving his engine aggressively... I looked up at the cab to see the two ne'erdowells grinning down at me on my bike.

Will the floor pans be drilled for weight saving/water draining enhancementness?
I have fond childhood memory's of watching the road whizz by through the floor of a family friends elderly Land Rover.
And one of their sheep dogs, it used to jump out the window at the first opportunity, kind of a west country glass bottomed boat...

Really? Might have been the same guy. Did it have a number painted on it? What colour?

I must dig out the footage.

No, but they'll be removable for water draining reasons. They're made of aluminium, so they won't be heavy.

You know, it may well indeed have been the same car owned by the bloke who invited us down. I know he sends his cars down there alot.

I'm going to VNC into my office to see if I can get a grab from that footage. Wish me luck!

Blimey, how weird this came up as I pressed F5. Sorry to interrupt. The exhaust has just gone on my new MR2. I think due to one of the speedbumps at work. I have heard mongoose do decent exhausts as an upgrade. Anyone know owt about this?

Bah, tried to do it over VNC but wasted 20 minutes and failed. Will try again when in the office tomorrow.

Cheers for that Ace. It's 1991 mk2 but it looks like they have the one for me. Did your motor get fixed up by the way?

@Ace. That's good man. I hate to see a damaged MR2, they are, in my opinion, one of the most lovely cars ever made.

A Mongoose it is I think.

Here's those Jag mk2 clips from Goodwood a few years ago.

[edit] That doesn't seem to work. Er.......

My tale of service woe continues.

After taking the car in on Monday, I was contacted a few hours later regarding the faults I'd cited, given the estimated cost of repair, and told it should be done 'by Wednesday'.

Wednesday came and went, then Thursday. Just after 1600 on Thursday, I phoned them and asked where my car was. The woman went to ask, and three minutes later comes back to advise me that 'Oh, the workshop says it's ready for you to collect at half past five.'

Oh. Nice of them to let me know.

'Sorry,' I said, 'that's no good to me, I don't finish until late, can you send someone to collect me from my house tomorrow?'
'Morning?'
'No, noon please, you have the address?'
'Yes, 22 Shit Street, Caerfilthy?'
'That's right, Thank you very much.'

So, today, got up at 1130, quick shower, dressed, sitting in the front room, curtains open at 1145.

NOBODY BASTARD TURNED UP. At 1300 I had no choice but to jump on the bike and head into work, as I've had to do all week.

Upon arrival I immediately called them and advised them that my car was booked in with them, and that I should have been collected today so I could get the car, and that nobody had come for me. The chap was fairly apologetic and asked when I could get the car later, I told him I was now in work until 2100, and couldn't. I also asked what the bill and list of work carried out was. He took my number, and said he'd find out and call me right back. This was just after 1400.

An hour and a half later, I get a call from a different chap, apologising for the confusion. It seems that the car WASN'T ready after all - the touch up stick for the paintwork (which I'd ordered two years ago the last time I had it in there for the service) had not turned up, nor had the replacement boot lid catch. These were due tomorrow, he didn't know when, was it convenient for me to pick the car up then?

Well, not really. More to the point, what would have happened had I turned up yesterday as I'd been told it was ready to be collected? Why did *I* have to call *them* to be told it was ready to be collected? And most importantly, HOW MUCH IS THIS COSTING ME? I had it put down on the form not to do any work costing over £50 without calling me for my approval. Because nobody had bothered calling me, I said, I'm now very concerned that a bunch of expensive work has been done without my say-so. He had no details of the cost, just that everything that was wrong barring the boot lid catch had been done, and told me the same price (roughly £500 parts and labour, please spare me your 'you've been ripped off, mate, I could have done you that for less' comments) as before. He said, however, that for the inconvenience I won't be paying that much now anyway. He then offered a courtesy car... which is a waste of time now as I'm not in work again until Monday, having made my own arrangements all week, including today.

So, to summarise, I won't be getting it back until Monday, and they've messed up spectacularly. I bet they haven't dealt with the water ingress/central locking fault, or something else has been forgotten. I'm very unhappy, not least of all because the last time I had it serviced there (two years ago) I actually wrote to the manager PRAISING THEM for the polite, helpful staff who handled all my queries and concerns well, and even came out straight away to sort it out when, upon getting in to drive it home, found a small problem with the air vents. Something has gone very wrong in the intervening two years.

I hate picking the car up after a service. I have yet to find a garage that realises that giving you ten minutes notice of when your car will be ready, and closing ten minutes after that, isn't really acceptable. Because I have to get the bus there. Why? Because they've GOT MY FUCKING CAR.

Christ, Meaty! You've been ripped off, mate. I could have done it foARCK MY ANKLES!

Well, I will praise the Honda dealership in Beaconsfield, if only because they sorted me out with a company car and the lovely lady at the main desk there waited till 6:25pm for me to show up (when they normally leave at 6:00pm) because I was stuck in traffic on the M25.

That said, considering they stung me for the best part of £700, I'd have expected the full red carpet treatment.

Interesting, because there's a Vauxhall dealer about 400m from them who are also absolute gold at all times, to the point I drive 30 miles to let them service my car now I've moved.

Same for me, it's about a 25 mile drive to Beaconsfield. I started going to them because they were closer to where I work, but they're absolute gold. Certainly their service is leagues ahead of my local Honda dealer and, by and large, they're a fair bit cheaper too.

Grim... the cigarette lighter in my car doesn't work. Can your ankles fix it for me so I can use it to charge my satnav and use my automatic tyre pump?

You dropped this:

It was a christmas present, and unless I get that working I will never inflate my tyres.

Get a proper double barelled footpump if you have big tyres. About 15 quid.

Or just go to a petrol station (most offer free air).

Or I could use the freeee option I already have that doesn't seem to fit in with your views on what I should and shouldn't own. All I want is a working cigarette lighter. Not a judgement about the manliness of my pumpers.

Just think of me as this forums own version of those horrible woman who tell people what to wear and then make them look stupid.

In anycase, imagine this. There you are, rain tipping down, and your spare tyre is flat. You need to pump it up. So you get our your electric pump. But oh no, Grim.. drives past splashing both you and the electric pump. The water shorts the pump giving you a mild shock, shorting the unit and fusing part of your cars electrics.

Through Grim..'s thoughtlessness, you now have to walk 10 miles in the dark to a garage.

Of course, if you had an old fashioned manual unit you'd just have been able to pump up the tyre.


So the solution is:

a) Buy a manual pump.

or

b) Steal Grim..'s car to ensure this can never happen.

I imagine part of the car's electrics are already fused. hence the cigarette lighter not working.

Plus, I'd just hitch a lift with one of Grim...'s convoy of butlers.

The word is "entourage".

Fuses are really easy though and chances are your car will already have a spare in the fuse box (my car does). Or you can just nick a fuse from somewhere less vital like the ABS (subs please check).

You make him sound like P Diddy. The day I saw him at TV Centre he had an "entourage". Or "homies" as I believe the young people call them.

Anyone ever painted their brake calipers? Is it easy?

Why would you do that?

Because I quite like the idea of having bits of red behind my wheels

Run over a squirrel.

Oh well each to their own! I would suggest taking the caliper off but leave the brake hose attached. Take the brake pads off, use a wire brush to clean it up, then a cloth with white spirit to take off any oil. Then paint with hammerite paint.

I have not done this so don't blame me if it looks chavvy


Edit: Woah - Americans have designed a WIDE RANGE OF PRAHDUCTS to suit your every caliper painting requirement:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=a0-QnXPLVe0

I think you need special brake caliper paint, to withstand the temperatures.

What temperatures? Gazchap does hillclimbs?